Compensation and Voluntary Participation in a Continuum of Service

A central principle of a Continuum of Service (CoS) is the recognition that reservists differ in their willingness and ability to accept activation and deployment. Furthermore, policy-makers’ experience with the All-Volunteer Force has demonstrated that people usually respond to incentives. Consequently, it is believed that changes to reservist compensation can support voluntary participation in a CoS. More specifically, correctly targeted incentives can encourage reservists to voluntarily choose levels of affiliation that meet the demand for their skills. In general, our analysis of choice-based conjoint survey data confirms these principles. The data suggest that reservists have different preferences for participation, even without changes in compensation. In addition, our survey data consistently demonstrate that reservists will respond to incentives. In other words, reservists are willing to adjust their preferences in response to changes in compensation. In principle, then, policy-makers can use compensation tools to effectively implement a CoS. Across-the-board changes in compensation, however, do not encourage participation in a CoS. Furthermore, we do not find evidence that implementing a CoS, or that increases in compensation to support a CoS, would significantly increase reserve retention. Therefore, cost-effective implementation of a CoS will rely on targeted compensation.